In the course of our labor practice over the past 34 years, we have become intimately familiar with the various Northern Illinois labor unions. We have dealt with all of them. Naturally, most of these local unions are congregated in the metro Chicago area. The six country area is one of the few remaining areas…

As our readers know, a significant portion of our practice here at Wessels Sherman is devoted to representation of employers in cases involving labor unions. This runs the full spectrum from remaining union-free to dealings with organized labor involving negotiations, arbitration, strikes, picketing, boycotts, and virtually all matters coming under the general description of labor-management…

The US Supreme Court issued its decision in Janus v AFSCME minutes ago ruling against the union in the public sector union fee case. This is a devastating body blow to organized labor. Click below to read the historic decision. Questions? Contact us.

Good news for business! On April 11, 2018, the US Senate confirmed Morgan Lewis & Bockius attorney John Ring to fill the National Labor Relations Board’s only remaining vacancy. With this confirmation, the NLRB will be at full strength with a 3-2 pro-business majority. This clears the way for the Trump administration appointees to resume…

Nancy Joerg heard me talking on the phone with a client the other day. She liked the advice and asked me to write a commentary for our next Wessels Sherman Client Alert. The subject that I was discussing with a company president was one that doesn’t get much attention these days-union organizing. Union organizing in…

For the last several years, my advice to union-free clients has been consistent. Even in the face of quickie NLRB elections, employers have the upper hand. Unions in the private sector today are a pale shadow of what they once were. Labor unions can be kept out of your organization with only modest preventative measures.…

In my introduction, I reprinted my commentary from 2005 on why private sector unions are in such a state of decline. Those factors are true today. Here is a list of the factors without my 2005 commentary: 1. Traditional base is disappearing 2. Management is far more sophisticated in countering the threat of unions 3.…

(Fourth part of the series on the State of Labor Unions in America) Right to work laws are often misunderstood. They really do only one thing – such a law makes it illegal in that particular state for a union contract to have a provision calling for mandatory union membership. Stated another way, when a…

(Third part of the series on the State of Labor Unions in America) Any analysis of private vs public sector labor relations must start with the legal underpinnings. The private sector has a long history of regulation under the National Labor Relations Act. The NLRA dates to 1935. To a degree, the NLRB is political…